Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (September 6 to 12, 2015)
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Another week: No particular trends to spot in this week's top article traffic. Pablo Escobar maintains the top spot for a second week due to the new Netflix series on his life, followed by the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The Queen of England is #6 by virtue of now being the longest-reigning British monarch in history. This was dutifully noted by the press in the same way that same event was noted in September 1896 when Queen Victoria took that title. Thus does time march on.
As prepared by Milowent, for the week of September 6 to 12, 2015, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Pablo Escobar 
1,454,312 
Holding steady in the top spot for a second week (down by about 130,000 views). The Capone of cocaine shot from the bottom to the top of this list last week, thanks to the Netflix series Narcos, which charts his rise, brutal rule, and bloody end. It is odd that the Colombian drug lords haven't been romanticised as their Italian Chicago predecessors were. Perhaps it's simple xenophobia, or more likely, because we are so much more aware of how barbaric they were. 2 September 11 attacks
1,245,665 
The 14th anniversary of these terrorist attacks repeats its second place showing from last year, when it was eclipsed by a Google Doodle on Leo Tolstoy. It topped the chart in 2013. 3 Serena Williams
806,091 
Serena's no stranger to this list, and she returned this week as she played in the 2015 US Open, ultimately losing to Roberta Vinci (#19) in the semifinals. 4 Easy-E 
709,350 
Down one spot and about 120,000 views from last week, for a fifth straight week in the Top 10. The founding member of N.W.A, whose death from AIDS at the age of just 31 forms the emotional climax of the film Straight Outta Compton. 5 The Visit (2015 film) 
692,721 
The latest film from director M. Night Shyamalan is this comedy horror movie, released in North America on September 11. It finished second at the box office, just edged out by The Perfect Guy (which is somewhat oddly all the way down at #205 in the raw WP:5000). The film has received mixed reviews from critics, though some has praised it as a return to form for Shyamalan. 6 Elizabeth II 
627,601 
The Queen returns to the top 25 for the first time since May, when she welcomed a new great-grandchild. On September 9, she surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria to become the longest-reigning British monarch in history, at 63 years, 217 days, and counting. Victoria took her title on September 23, 1896, which the press similarly noted back then. 7 Deaths in 2015 
575,096 
The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 450 and 550 thousand on average, apparently heedless of who actually died. Views were slightly higher this week at 575K. Deaths noted on the list this week include Russian water polo player Vladislav Timakov (Age 24, September 6, heart attack); Spanish woman's right activist Elena Arnedo (age 74, September 7); Azerbaijani musician Habil Aliyev (age 88, September 8); American businessman Charles Hallac (age 50, September 9, cancer); Italian actor Franco Interlenghi (age 83, September 10); Georgian writer Rezo Cheishvili (age 82, September 11); and The Damned bassist Bryn Merrick (age 56, September 12, cancer) 8 Syrian Civil War 
567,289 
The ongoing refugee crisis, now more directly impacting Europe than before, is getting increased attention. 9 Labor Day
550,603 
An annual appearance, the first Monday in September is the traditional end of the United States summer season, and, for some people, the last time of the year it is in any way excusable to wear white. 10 Narcos
528,389 
Down from #4 last week. The TV series about the rise of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (see #1) premiered in its entirety on Netflix on August 28. 11 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
514,543 Teams in blue have qualified, four of which were added last week. 12 Venus Williams
494,595 
Her sister Serena Williams (#3) beat her in the quarterfinals of the US Open. 13 Dr. Dre
494,067 
Far and away the most successful talent to emerge from N.W.A, Dr. Dre would go on to shepherd talents such as Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, 50 Cent, and Kendrick Lamar, and ultimately become the richest man in hip hop, after Apple Inc.'s purchase of his company Beats Electronics earned him $620 million. He has wondered in the past if people have forgotten him; well the release of Straight Outta Compton has put that fear to rest. The soundtrack for Straight Outta Compton is Dre's first album in 16 years, and opened at #2 at the US chart amid critical acclaim. But his co-producing credit on the Straight Outta Compton film has also drawn some negative attention to its apparent ignorance of Dre's abusive past with women, for which Dre has copiously mea culpa-ed, no doubt to clear the air with Apple. 14 Fear the Walking Dead
493,165 
AMC's spin-off to their hit series The Walking Dead premièred on August 23. 15 Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
468,885 
Traffic on this Welsh village article peaked on September 10, due to a viral video showing a weatherman correctly pronouncing the full name of the village (which is actually Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch), during a live broadcast, proving once again why WP:COMMONNAME is common sense. 16 Crowd
464,718 
A mundane, though important, basic article like this one doesn't often make the Top 25. The majority of these views came on September 11, amid a popular Reddit thread claiming that it takes approximately 6% of a crowd to change the direction the entire crowd is travelling in. That thread is now marked "not verifiable." This is not an uncommon problem on Reddit. (See, e.g., the fable of the nickname Skip posted last month.) Redditors love Wikipedia, and there are warnings to only submit verifiable topics to "Today I Learned" and other subreddits, but sometimes the "facts" just sound too good to bother with verification, and the threads get quite popular before they are debunked. I don't have a source myself for this, but I think this kind of "crowd" behavior is simple human nature. 17 Ice Cube
461,735 
While still very much a rapper, the onetime N.W.A member is now arguably better known as an actor and a filmmaker. At the suggestion of John Singleton, he adapted his lyrical talents into screenwriting, and the result was the hit Friday film series, which introduced the world, for better or worse, to Chris Tucker. He also starred in a number of hit films including Are We There Yet? and Ride Along. And his son is carrying on the family business by playing him in Straight Outta Compton, but before you cry nepotism, the kid's getting good reviews. 18 Straight Outta Compton (2015 film)
452,087 
Down from #7 last week. The biopic of the short-lived but electrifying hip-hop group N.W.A was released on August 14 to superb reviews and blockbuster business- its $56 million opening weekend gross was higher than those for Terminator Genisys and Pixels combined; it held the #1 slot at the US box office for three weeks straight, and now has a domestic box office total of $181 million. It's interesting to note that African Americans make up just 12% of the US population, and films aimed specifically at that market, like those of Tyler Perry, are considered hits if they reach $60 million after their entire runs. That shows the breadth of this the movie's appeal across racial lines. That the film's story chimed so well with recent events in America likely also played a role. 19 Roberta Vinci
433,461 
After beating Serena Williams (#3), in what has been described by numerous commentators as one of the biggest shocks in tennis history, Vinci fell to Flavia Pennetta in the finals of the US Open. 20 Whitey Bulger
431,345 
The release of the film Black Mass has drawn attention to the infamous Irish-American mobster. 21 Welcome Back (film)
422,369 
This Indian action comedy film directed by Anees Bazmee (pictured), and sequel to the 2007 Welcome was released worldwide on September 4. 22 N.W.A
416,634 
Their heyday lasted all of four years, but the members of this pioneering group would go on to create their own industry and bring gangsta rap to the mainstream. 23 Syria
413,380 See #8 24 List of Bollywood films of 2015
390,649 
Not an unusual visitor to the Top 25. 25 Donald Trump
390,147 
The unlikely American presidential candidate is showing unlikely staying power, appearing in the Top 25 (though just barely edging out EuroBasket 2015 to do so) for the seventh straight week.
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Just missing the Top 25 this week: EuroBasket 2015 (#26), Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (#27), Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (#28, dropping from #11 last week), Until Dawn (#29, dropping from #5), and Stephen Colbert (#30, new host of the American Late Show).
Exclusions
edit- This list excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we also exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (~2% or less) or almost all mobile views (~95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish.
- Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.